When I looked for answers I spent some time exploring “personal organization Youtube” and found a few general principles for myself:

• Make a real place for everything, not a pile. The difference between a simple tray or bin and a pile is that you can reposition a container without moving every single item in it. Repeating this principle at different scales from very small to very large will quickly organize things into a hierarchy, make it less exhausting to “declutter” and reduce the chance of errors like knocking over stuff and having a cascade.

• Have more containers than you need. Then you don’t “end up” with a pile forming. But don’t have more containers than is appropriate for the space you’re working with. That’s just a sign of needing to throw out some things.

• Also consider how you “divide” vs “bind” space together. The two are like ying and yang: we divide up documents into pages, but then we bind them together again with various mechanisms like yarn, binder clips or glue. Sometimes the right answer for making a place is assuming it’s pre-divided, but easing binding.

• Taking this idea to its extreme, you can cram a huge number of small items into a three-ring binder with various accessories(pencil pouches, clear dividers, etc.) This is a wonderful way to deal with those products that ship with, e.g., an extra screw.

• You don’t have to invest in expensive containers. Cardboard and leftover food plastic can work on a budget.

• If throwing things out is triggering your hoarding senses, try making spaces of relatively greater and lower priority: your “favorites” vs the “other stuff”. This sorting helps you now by putting the stuff you like within reach, and it helps later by creating an opportunity to declutter by tossing the whole bin at once.

What are the best containers to invest in for the long run? In my opinion, small zipper bags, desk organizers, pencil bins, and cafeteria trays. If you have a lot of round items, a lazy susan, or variations on that like a makeup organizer.